Apple iPhone 6 delivery delays expected after record pre-orders

Apple Inc. said it received a record four million first-day pre-orders of its new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, meaning many customers will have to wait until October for their new phones.

Apple said a significant number of orders will be delivered to customers beginning Friday, but many will be shipped in October as demand outstrips supply.

In Canada, Rogers, Fido, Bell, Telus and Virgin Mobile have started accepting pre-orders of the new iPhone 6 models.

Bell says on its website that it is "experiencing very strong demand and cannot guarantee your delivery for September 19th … it could take up to four weeks for delivery."

Regional carriers MTS and Sasktel are also selling the phone. They are not taking pre-orders, but expect to have phones available on Friday.

Most Canadian carriers are offering the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 at $265 for the 16 GB model, $375 for the 64 GB model and $484 for the 128 GB model with a two-year contract. The smaller models are $749, $859 and $969 respectively with no contract.

The carriers are offering the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus at $375 for the 16 GB model, $485 for the 64 GB model and $594 for the 128 GB model with a two-year contract. The larger phones are $859, $969 and $1,079 respectively with no contract. 

The first-day pre-orders for the new iPhones, which feature larger screens, were double the two million orders for iPhone 5 models in 2012.

"We attribute this [pre-order numbers] to the large pent-up demand for larger screens on the iPhone," Janney Capital Markets analysts wrote in a note.

The brokerage raised its unit sales estimate for the latest iPhones to 37.4 million for the fourth quarter and 60 million for the first quarter.

While Apple did not break out first-day pre-orders for iPhone 5Ss and 5Cs launched last year, it sold nine million of those phones in the first three days in stores as China joined the list of launch countries for the first time.

The company said the new iPhone models will be available to customers in its stores in the United States, Canada, Australia and some other countries on Friday morning.

Apple's website showed last week that the larger 5.5-inch Plus models displayed a wait time of up to a month. The 4.7-inch version was available for delivery on Sept. 19.

The company routinely grapples with iPhone supply constraints, particularly in years that involve a smartphone re-design.

Apple's shares were up less than one per cent at $101.94 in early trading on Monday.